Ndamukong Suh fined $100,000, not suspended

this is a discussion within the NFL Community Forum; Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has been handed the biggest fine of his career. But Suh has avoided a suspension for his illegal low block on Vikings center John Sullivan on Sunday.
The NFL has fined Suh $100,000, a much ...

Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has been handed the biggest fine of his career. But Suh has avoided a suspension for his illegal low block on Vikings center John Sullivan on Sunday.

The NFL has fined Suh $100,000, a much heavier fine than players typically get for personal fouls on the field, and a fine that demonstrates that Suh’s repeat-offender status has him viewed as a marked man by the NFL’s discipline police.

Suh’s largest previous fine came last season, when his pay was docked $30,000 for kicking Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin on Thanksgiving. Suh had been fined lesser amounts on other occasions for more run-of-the-mill fouls like roughing the passer and late hits.

The most money Suh ever lost for a disciplinary measure was $164,000, when he lost two weeks’ pay during a two-game suspension for stomping on Green Bay’s Evan Dietrich-Smith on Thanksgiving in 2011.

Former NFL player Merton Hanks, now the NFL’s vice president of football operations, determined the dollar amount of the fine. Suh has the opportunity to appeal the fine, and an appeal would be heard by either Ted Cottrell or Matt Birk.

It's one thing to be a hard a$$ S.O.B. that doesn't take sh!t from no one and drops the hammer when tackling. It's a totally different thing to be a malicious and borderline mentally sick d-bag. Suh is without a doubt the latter of the two. Even though he'd like to have you believe that he's just "playing hard", there's far too much game tape that shows him being a blatant piece of sh!t.

IDK, I can see the fines for doing something above & beyond like "the Stomp" or "the Groin kick", but I gotta' think this one was levied more just as part of the NFL's new "player safety" initiative and because of his past history. The personal foul should have sufficed on this one, IMO.

IDK, I can see the fines for doing something above & beyond like "the Stomp" or "the Groin kick", but I gotta' think this one was levied more just as part of the NFL's new "player safety" initiative and because of his past history. The personal foul should have sufficed on this one, IMO.

IDK, I can see the fines for doing something above & beyond like "the Stomp" or "the Groin kick", but I gotta' think this one was levied more just as part of the NFL's new "player safety" initiative and because of his past history. The personal foul should have sufficed on this one, IMO.

Ndamakung Suh's agents are gathering the relevant information for their appeal of the Detroit Lions defensive tackle's $100,000 fine, but the basis of their argument, at this point, is that the amount is excessive, league sources said.

The NFL has a system based on escalating discipline. Suh's previous fine was $30,000 for kicking Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub in the groin area. Now, the cost for his illegal block on Minnesota Vikings center John Sullivan is $100,000 -- the largest fine in NFL history without a suspension involving the loss of game checks.

Suh was voted a team captain by his teammates and apologized to them on Tuesday. He also apologized to linebacker DeAndre Levy, who lost a touchdown on an interception return because of Suh's penalty for blocking below the waist on a change of possession play.

"He apologized to the team. It was sincere. We accepted it," running back Joique Bell said. "We all a family, and that's our brother. At the end of the day, we all we got. So, it was a good deal. Levy accepted it, so if he can accept it, everybody should be able to accept it."

Another interesting element of Suh's appeal is that it will be heard by either former coach Ted Cotrell or ex-player Matt Birk. Suh might have reason to be concerned if Birk is involved since he's a former offensive lineman -- and, in fact, played with the Vikings as their center, the position Sullivan was playing Sunday.

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith tweeted Tuesday that he has reached out to Suh.

The article says that former player, Merton Hanks, determined the amount for the fine. We don't really know how much of an influence Goodell had on the situation (although I'm sure it was plentiful). It at least appears as though he is passing the buck on a few things. Anyway, the flag would have been sufficient for about 99% of the players in the league. Suh has developed a reputation that precedes him, and this fine is a step toward teaching him to have some regard for the health and livelihood of his co-workers. It was an entirely unnecessary play that displays a sickening disconnect between playing hard and playing with intent to inflict harm outside of the framework of sportsmanship and honorable gamesmanship. The next step for plays of this nature from Suh should and will be suspension. While I am 110% FOR playing hard and aggressive, I do not see how anyone could condone plays such as this one or think that in-game penalties are sufficient for habitual plays of this nature. When plays like Suh's chop away from the ball become habitual, as they have for Suh, then THAT PLAYER has become the major problem and not any fine or punishment levied against them for such actions.